of the gods and goddesses that people the wide sky, the woods and
mountains. He wears a barbarous habit; perhaps he is a Scythian. Let us
approach the stranger, my sisters, and make sure he is not come as a foe
to sully our fountains, hew down our trees, tear open our hill-sides
and betray to cruel men the mystery of our happy lurking places. Come
with me, Mnaïs; come, Ægle, Neæra and Melibœa.

"On! on!" returned Mnaïs, "on, with our arms in hand!"

"On! on!" all cried in chorus.

Then Fra Mino saw them spring up, and gather great handfuls of roses,
and advance upon him in a long line, each armed with roses and thorns.
But the distance that separated them from him, which at first had seemed
very short, for indeed he thought almost to touch them and felt their
breath on his face, appeared suddenly to increase, and he watched them
coming as though from out a far-off forest. Impatient to be at him, they
began to run, threatening him with their cruel flowers, while menaces
flew from their flower-like lips. And lo! as they came nearer, a change
was wrought in them; at each step they lost something of their grace and
beauty, and the bloom of their youth faded as fast as the roses in their
hands. First their eyes grew hollow and the mouth fell in. The neck, but
now so pure and white, hung in great hideous folds, and grey elf-locks
draggled over their wrinkled brows. On they came; and their eyes were
circled with red, their lips drawn in upon the toothless gums. On they
came, carrying dead roses in their arms, which were black and writhen
as the old vine stocks the peasants of Chianti burn for firewood in the
winter nights. On they came, with shaking heads and palsied thighs,
tottering and trembling.